Disney 'Infinity' platform is a virtual toy box

In real life, a player puts a tiny figurine of Captain Jack Sparrow on a pad that's wired to an Xbox 360 or other gaming console.

Virtually, the pirate springs to life inside the game. The player controls Sparrow as he rides Dumbo the flying elephant to the top of the giant sphere inside Epcot. There, he disembarks and starts a sword-fight with Mr. Incredible.

This mashup is among the many possibilities players could encounter while exploring Disney "Infinity," the entertainment giant's most ambitious gaming project to date.

Disney leaders previewed the video game in Los Angeles on Tuesday and said Infinity will go on sale in June.

The video game, designed for gamers age 6 and older, offers players a virtual toy box of sorts, where they can ride in Cinderella's carriage or strap on Buzz Lightyear's jetpack in an open world that changes at a child's whim.

"Think of it like your parents' living room floor," said John Vignocchi, executive producer of the new game.

The pirate ships of "Pirates of the Caribbean," the superhero world of "The Incredibles" and the school from Disney's upcoming summer Pixar flick "Monsters University" will be among the worlds available at launch across major gaming platforms. More worlds will be added.

To play requires buying a starter pack, which includes the first three worlds and related Disney characters for $75. To expand the game, players can spend more to add high-tech collectibles that unlock more worlds, characters and power-ups within the game. Figurines to unlock new playable characters, for example, will cost $13, and power-ups packs will cost $5.

Each item includes wireless technology that allows characters to warp in and out of game-play.

The project is a cross between Activision's highly successful "Skylanders" franchise, which lets players buy figurines that battle virtually, and "LittleBigPlanet," which offers Sony's PlayStation 3 gamers robust tools to create and customize everything in their virtual worlds.

"When we think about Disney and the number of brands that they own, it's only reasonable for Disney to take a similar route" to "Skylanders," said Jesse Divnich, vice president in charge of analysis at video game research firm EEDAR. "The opportunity in front of Disney is one of the biggest in the video game industry."

Like "Skylanders," the Infinity figurines can develop stronger attributes through game-play and can travel with a player to a friend's house.

Like "LittleBigPlanet," "Infinity" players can shape the way they play, turning a world into a racing game of their own design or a melee free-for-all.

"I'll always look at it like a tool chest for creativity that we're giving everybody," said John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

"What's so staggering about this is not what's happening with it right now but the potential of what's going to happen in the future when it gets in the hands of kids and adults and creative people and (they) just start getting lost creating stuff – creating stories and juxtapositions of things we can't even imagine right now."